It is estimated that over two million individuals are incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails. In general, inmates that have been convicted of felony offenses serve longer sentences in prisons (e.g., federal or state prisons), whereas inmates that have been convicted of misdemeanors receive shorter sentences that are frequently served in local jails (e.g., county jail). In addition, upon being detained by authorities, an inmate may serve significant periods of time incarcerated in a local jail while awaiting release on bond and, in some cases, while awaiting trial. During all of these periods of incarceration, an inmate may be provided with opportunities to communicate with the outside world.
By allowing inmates to communicate with friends and family while incarcerated, the justice system aims to facilitate their transition back into society upon release. Traditional visitation sessions provided by controlled-environment facilities include telephone calls and in-person visits. More recently, technological advances have allowed controlled-environment facilities to provide various types of remote, interactive communications sessions as visitation sessions, including voice and video conferences, text communications, email and online chat sessions.
These communication sessions allow residents to communicate with friends and family members, as well as to participate in various types of educational, training, and counseling sessions. Accordingly, such communication sessions are facilitated and encouraged by the controlled environment facility. However, fraudulent procurement of such communication services may allow a resident to circumvent various regulated aspects of the supported communication sessions, in some instances allowing a resident to participate in unauthorized and potentially unmonitored communication sessions with a prohibited individual. Such fraud may be perpetrated by residents with the knowing or unknowing participation of staff members of the controlled environment facility.